State budget cuts to smack Bridgeport area

Updated 11:39 pm, Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Only days past Thanksgivinging, and the belt tightening is on in Connecticut as the state's safety net, education institutions and even tourism meccas like Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo and the Discovery Museum react to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget cuts.

The state Department of Social Services, an agency understaffed for more than a decade and lambasted by both the federal government and New Haven Legal Assistance Association for failing to process Medicaid applications in a timely way, is taking some of steepest hits.

The agency has been criticized for leaving thousands of low-income applicants -- many in Bridgeport and surrounding cities and towns -- stranded without access to health care coverage as its work force dwindles and case loads swell. Now, it faces a $32.3 million cut in its budget, including a $5.3 million cut to Temporary Assistance to Families, $2.9 million from its housing/homeless services account and $1.5 million from its HUSKY B health care program for children.

"Obviously, we are very concerned about the possible harms that these recissions to the budget do to the low income, children and the homeless population," said Susan Nofi Bendici, executive director of the New Haven Legal Assistance Association. "It's difficult to know the specific areas and ways this will impact our clients. We would hope that the budget cuts won't harm our state's most vulnerable populations. But all of this is something we will need to review, and we're just now learning about" these reductions.

Within legal aid organization circles Wednesday, a flurry of emails between staff attorneys questioned, but didn't resolve, how the cuts might impact their clients.

The University of Connecticut budget also would be cut by $10.3 million under the governor's plan. In a letter to the university community on Wednesday, UConn President Susan Herbst said her approach will be to protect what is most vital: teaching, learning and research.

She said she won't halt UConn's faculty hiring plan, but will make painful cuts to many non-academic areas. When fringe benefits are calculated, Herbst said the cut to UConn is about $15 million.

The Board of Regents, which includes the state's community colleges, stateuniversity system and Charter Oak State College, is facing a $14 million cut. Philip Austin, the acting chancellor of the system, said the cuts will be difficult to absorb.

"But the state is facing a budgetary shortfall, and we must operate within the limits imposed by available state resources," Austin said in a prepared statement. Austin said he will work with the system's chief financial officer and the presidents to determine specifically how the cuts will affect the colleges and universities and develop a plan to present to the Regents. The regents are not scheduled to meet until January.

Even the state's only zoo, Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, didn't escape the governor's chopping block. It will see a $14,174 cut, about 5 percent of its total appropriation from the state.

"We hate to lose any money whatsoever in this recession," Zoo Director Gregg Dancho said. "But it won't impact anything that has to do with our animal care. It would affect our maintenance. We would have to defer some of that."

The governor's cuts come at a time when attendance at the zoo typically drops as the temperature dips.

Meanwhile, the Discovery Museum and Planetarium, another popular attraction in Bridgeport, would suffer a $15, 148 reduction of the $300,000 it receives from the state.

"Most of the nonprofits in this smoldering economy are already on their hands and knees. All of our revenues have shrunk," said Jeff Bishop, director of the Discovery Museum. The museum, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, operates on a $1.3 million budget.

"We are already at a skeleton crew and there's not much more that can be cut" Bishop said. "So we would look for ways to bolster our revenue with more fundraising events. I don't think we would raise our prices; that wouldn't be something we'd want to consider."